Cuba Boitel After 53 days in hunger strike died of starvation

SOUTH CIRCUIT Presents
THIS IS THE STORY OF PEDRO LUIS BOITEL WHO DIED AS A POLITICAL PRISONER IN A CUBAN JAIL AFTER 53 DAYS IN HUNGER STRIKE.

Pedro Luis Boitel was a political exile on January 1, 1959, when Batista left Cuba. He had been active with the opposition to Batista. Boitel returned to Cuba and rejoined Havana University. He was elected President of the student body representing the Engineering Faculty.

Pedro Luis Boitel

Soon, as many other young people, he realized that Castro was turning Cuba into a Communist state. Boitel was one of the founders of a clandestine organization called Movement to Recuperate the Revolution (MRR.) He won the elections for the student body of the University of Havana. Castro's government committed fraud and had their candidate Rolando Cubelas appointed President of the student body.

University of Havana

Boitel was detained and accused of conspiracy against the state. He was found guilty in a kangaroo summary trial and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Once in jail he received other charges of supposed activities inside the jail. He was tortured and beaten up several times. His mother was humiliated several times when she went to visit him in jail.

On April 3, 1972, Boitel declared himself on hunger strike in the sinister political prison the "Castle of the Prince." He was protesting the bad conditions in which the political prisoners were kept. After 53 days in hunger strike only receiving liquids and after he was beaten up again several times he died of starvation on May 25, 1972.

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